Stonehammer Geopark™ Challenge

Please
choose 3-6 items from different categories to complete your
Stonehammer challenge.
The first 200 Stonehammer Challenge crests are available to Guides and Scouts free (postage
only unless picked up from the Guide House).

If you live within the wide boundaries of the Stonehammer Geopark, you are hereby
challenged to "adopt a geosite". There are 60 Geosites documented so
far by the Stonehammer Geopark, meaning areas with interesting rock formations. There are
countless more in all the corners of the Geopark boundaries. Find one that you can spend time in
and choose some of the following or your own ideas on how to adopt the site. Use it as a base for
some of the activities in this challenge. Have fun and enjoy time outside in a Stonehammer
Geopark place to call your own. If you live outside of the Stonehammer Geopark, maybe you’ll
be inspired to find your own natural place with interesting rocks to call your own.

Arts

Art

Do an art project with stones and pebbles that you find, piling them up and arranging
them or gluing them together. Plain white glue works for lighter, flatter rocks. Try adding
shells, acorns, birch bark, feathers, seaweed, and other natural materials.

Make a pet rock. Give him/her lots of character!
very young: Go to a rocky beach or safe
roadside site and pick one favourite rock. Compare how the other rocks you see are
different and how they are the same as yours. Wash and dry it or brush it clean with a
microfiber cloth. Glue googly eyes on rock with white glue. Draw the rest of a face with
markers. Name your pet.

Paint a rock to look like an animal, scene, flower etc. Work with the natural shape of your
rock to make it even better! (is there a part that looks like a chin, ears, a bunny tail?)
Helpful hints: clean your rock well first. You can use nail polish, tempera paint, or acrylic
paint. If you want to have better, brighter results with washable paint, then prepare the
rocks beforehand by painting them all white with any thick paint such as art acrylic or
household latex paint. Varnish afterwards.

Use a traditional method of making art using stone:
Advanced: do a sculpture in
purchased soapstone or Indiana limestone with hand tools or a dremel tool. You could
practice first carving bars of soap. Experiment with ways to make a lithograph. Draw a
design on a flat stone surface in grease pencil, lipstick, oil pastels or a similar medium
and print it onto paper.

Visit a museum or public place such as New Brunswick Museum, Saint John Trade and
Convention Centre, or Quispamsis Arts and Culture Park that has stone sculpture on
display
. Learn about the type of stone used and how the artist made the work. Be sure to
look at it from all sides.

Drama

Act out one of the "human stories" from the Stonehammer Geopark.
Advanced: research
an early pioneer of geology such as Will Matthew, Marie Stopes , or Abraham Gesner and
write a monologue for an actor to portray him or her.
Very young: a group can do a
guided drama together while reading "Fossil Hunter:
Will Matthew
and the Giant
Trilobite" by Randall Miller.
Read the story together and then imagine
something that
might happen now. For example, pretend to find the first dinosaur fossil in the
Stonehammer Geopark! Jump around with excitement! Get your hammer and carefully
tap it out of a big rock face. Carry the heavy stone to the museum. Or do a freeze tag
game where you have to scuttle low on the ground like trilobites and scrunch into a
burrow when tagged. When everyone is tagged, the "it" has fossilized all the trilobites!

Make up a way to show the violent earth science processes of the Geopark in drama: the
opening and closing of the Iapetus Ocean and the opening and spreading of the Atlantic
Ocean; the glaciers melting and dragging across the landscape; the rocky terranes tearing
off continents around the world and slamming together to form the folds, upheavals, and
ancient mountains of the Geopark; erosion of cliffs from the pounding of the waves on
the shore.

Creative Writing

Write a story, poem, play, or blog post about a Stonehammer Geopark topic of your
choice. Some suggestions to get you started:

What was it like when your part of Stonehammer Geopark was at the equator?
Describe the typical day in the life of a lizard 300 million years ago.

What was it like 100 years ago when 11 year old Will Matthew discovered the
first giant trilobite fossil?

Write about a family enjoying the Stonehammer Geopark today.

Does one of the rocky landscapes in the Stonehammer Geopark inspire you?
Write about what you see.

What fossils will be left behind from our era? Write about them being discovered
in 50,000 years.

Photography

Use your creativity to capture the beauty of stone somewhere in the Geopark Join the "fossilize me" online community at http://stonehammergeopark.ning.com (search
Stonehammer Geopark and click the “Community” box) and post your photos, or post
them on the Stonehammer Geopark Facebook Page.
Advanced: be sure you focus well on
the rock surface. This is a good time to practice with manual focus and f-stop, since your
rock is staying still! As well, if you have a macro setting on your camera, can you capture
crystal structure in a picture?
Very young: try making paper and crayon rubbings of
different rock outcroppings you can find on a beach walk or hike. Is your rock rough or
smooth?

Visual literacy

Look out for rocks! During one day, note down every time you see something made of
stone. How long is your list?
Advanced: can you even begin to list all the things you use
in a day that contain products of mining? From the calcium carbonate in your toothpaste
to the graphite in your pencil, to the potash that fertilized your bread, this is going to be a
long list!
Very young: look all around your house, meeting place or class for something
that is made of stone. Look at different materials and learn to recognize which ones are
stone.

Go for a walk in the Trinity Royal Heritage District of Uptown Saint John. Look way up
and stop at all the buildings that have stone ornamentation.
Advanced: Look up Acanthus
leaves before you go. Hunt for Acanthus leaves carved on the buildings of Trinity Royal.
Reward yourself with a treat when you find your third leaf!

Over time, make a virtual collection (in photos or notes and drawings or your favourite
way to keep track) of rock formations in as many colours as you can find: try to slot in
one for each of the colour families of the rainbow.

Collect a range of colours in small stones and display them in water or rub them with a
little oil to enhance their colour. Display in a pleasing way, or put on a small sand tray to
make a zen garden.

Look at rocky outcroppings you can find at the Geosites (information pages for each are
in the download centre of the Stonehammer Geopark website) and around the
Stonehammer Geopark. Can you see a face, an animal, or a recognizable shape outlined
in the rocks? Draw it and name it! Be sure to join the online community for the
Stonehammer Geopark and post your find! http://stonehammergeopark.ning.com or if
you are on facebook post it there!
Advanced: research the traditional names of some rock
faces you are familiar with. Do you have a sugar loaf, minister’s face or castle rock near
you?

Cultural Uses of Stone

Find your favourite stone sculpture on a building or freestanding somewhere indoors or
outdoors within the Stonehammer Geopark and sketch it.

Find ornaments or decorations carved from stone in the City, Towns, or Villages in the
Stonehammer Geopark.. How long ago was it carved? Is it still in great condition or does
it need some repair work?
Advanced: research restoration methods for stone buildings,
such as Dutchman Repairs.

Find a monument made of stone in the Geopark. What does it commemorate? How long
ago was it mounted? Look in King or Queen Square in Saint John or in your local area.
Very young: Find a stone statue. Does it show a person, a thing, or a shape? Walk around
it, touch it, try to pose the same way. Draw a picture of the statue and/or model your own
statue out of clay or playdough.

Earth Science

Geology

Learn about geology on the web, from a book, in the classroom or at home. You will find
lots of useful links on the Stonehammer Geopark Website Student and Teacher tabs. Be
able to describe one of the following processes
(advanced: develop a model or visual aid
to show):

Classifying and Testing Rocks

Use a rock collection you already have or get outside and collect as many different rocks
as you can find. Lay them all out where you can see them well. Decide what
characteristics they have. Group them according to your own classification system.

Global Network

One that is farthest away from us (hint: use latitude and longitude and a little math to
figure out our “opposite” spot on the globe and find the park closest to that spot!)

Tourism

You’ve been hired! A cruise ship is coming to Saint John and a family of 4 with $200, an
adult couple with no money, and a group of 20 with $1000 are looking for a day experiencing
the Stonehammer Geopark! Plan a one day outing for one or more of these groups. Use the
list at http://stonehammer.nbm-mnb.ca/activities for some great ideas of what to do, but
anything in the Stonehammer Geopark boundaries goes!

Participate in one of the Stonehammer Geopark Operators’ Experiences and Adventures
yourself or with your unit, group or class.

Earthcaching

Go on an earthcache or geocache! You can go on your own with a smartphone or GPS.
Find the caches by registering at www.geocache.org. Some great ones to start with are
called Kennebecasis Formation (found in Tucker Park in Saint John) or “The Reversing
Rapids Gorge: Where Terranes Meet.” Or you can go on a paid, guided program with
DayTripping at Rockwood Park, one of the Stonehammer partners.

Preservation

Do a garbage pick-up blitz at a geosite. Remember to wear gloves and be safe. Let us
know at the Stonehammer Geopark “Fossilize me” online community: http://stonehammergeopark.ning.com or on the Stonehammer facebook page.

Advanced: learn about environmental threats to the landscape within the Stonehammer
Geopark boundaries.

Advanced: find a geosite that you’d like more people to be able to visit. Do your own
safety audit and note down what improvements would have to be made to make it safer
for visitors.

Mapping

Find where you live (or where your class or group meets) in the Stonehammer Geopark.
Where do you fall on the geology map http://stonehammer.nbm-mnb.ca/geology-of-stonehammer.html (follow the geology link under the learn tab to find on the site), the
brightly coloured maps that show rock formations.

Range of Sites

Photograph yourself or your mascot in 2 or more different Stonehammer Geopark
Geosites. Challenge yourself to get to as many as you can!

In-depth knowledge of one site

Choose your favourite Geosite and visit it during 2 or more different seasons. In each
season, what is a special thing you can do there?

Active Living

Canoe, kayak, hike, swim, bike, snowshoe, ski, or get out in nature in your favourite way
in the Stonehammer Geopark. Paid programmes are available with several Stonehammer
Geopark partners: Find them in the “Stonehammer Experiences” section of the Activities
tab at www.stonehammergeopark.com

Wildlife

Go birdwatching

Follow tracks at your favourite site in the Stonehammer Geopark. Can you find homes
made by wildlife using rocks? (Remember not to go into bat caves due to the spread of
fungal infection).

Crests are free, except for postage, and available from the Provincial Office.